CSX modifies Worcester freight yard growth plans

Working closely with city and state officials, CSX Corp. has come up with some modifications to its plan to more than double the size of its freight yard so it addresses traffic and neighborhood issues that have been raised, the Telegram & Gazette reports. CSX has proposed redesigning the access point to its freight yard on Grafton Street so the road comes out next to the eastbound entrance to Interstate 290 and directly aligns with the I-290 Grafton Street off-ramp. With such a reconfiguration, trucks would not have to travel on Grafton Street to enter or exit the freight rail yard, thus addressing concerns that had been raised by business owners in that area. The cost to modify that part of Grafton Street has been pegged at $2 million. CSX is also looking at roadway improvements at three key intersections - Brown Square (Franklin and Plantation streets), Plantation and Aitchison streets, and Aitchison and Shrewsbury streets - to accommodate the 2,500 to 3,000 vehicles per day that would no longer be able to use Putnam Lane. To facilitate the $100 million expansion project - the 28-acre freight yard would be increased to 51 acres in size- CSX has to acquire 11 parcels of privately owned commercial properties near the existing freight yard, and acquire portions of public streets. Also, Putnam Lane, which connects Franklin Street to Shrewsbury Street, will have to be closed. The estimated cost of the geometric modifications to those intersections is estimated at more than $1.5 million. In addition, CSX has agreed to address concerns raised by city officials about the grade of the bridge it plans to construct on Franklin Street. The bridge will enable trucks and containers to move from the rail lines to within the freight yard without having to go onto city streets. But the grades of the ascent and descent of that bridge was originally 9 percent - something public works officials had a problem with. To lower those grades to a more acceptable 6 percent, CSX has agreed to lower the road that will run beneath the bridge. Also, more than $5 million worth of streetscape improvements are being considered in a 2-mile area around the freight yard. Those improvements would include repaving streets and sidewalks, planting new trees, installing benches and enhancing pedestrian crosswalks. Still unresolved, however, is an alternative connection to the planned closing of Putnam Lane, which is a source of contention among many East Side residents. Robert L. Moylan Jr., commissioner of public works and parks, said 10 different options have been considered involving potential bridge connections between Franklin Street and Shrewsbury Street, but he said all have been ruled out because the significant grade difference between the two streets makes a bridge connection unfeasible. He said the roadway grade involved would be in the range of 15 to 22 percent; in comparison, the grade of George Street, considered one of the steepest streets in the city, is about 16 percent. "We've had to reject every bridge design because the grade involved makes bridges impractical," Mr. Moylan said at a joint meeting of the City Council Public Works and Public Service and Transportation committees. "Such a bridge would not meet good engineering practices." Mr. Moylan said one alternative that has been broached is building a 270-foot tunnel that would connect Shrewsbury Street to Franklin Street, near Villa Nova Street. But he said the cost of such a tunnel would be $20 million to $30 million.